1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to storage and display devices and more specifically to a storage and display device for planar items such as rugs and doors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional displays for planar items such as rugs are generally piles of rugs atop each other. A customer wishing to see a rug below the top item on the pile requires the merchant to physically move the items on the top of the desired item. This necessitates another space for the removed items to be placed and a great deal of lifting for the merchant.
What is needed is a display system that permits easy display of planar items and also requires a minimum of physical effort by the merchant to remove and display items in the display.
In a first aspect, the present invention provides a storage frame including one or more storage tracks and a display frame with a movable display track. The storage frame and tracks may be used to store one or more planar items. The display frame may be aligned with a storage track to accept the item stored on the storage track. The loaded display track may be lowered and/or pivoted to display the item. The display track may also be used to unload one or more items from storage.
In another aspect, the present invention provides two or more storage frames that may be stacked vertically to provide incremental vertical storage. One display track and frame may be used to display and unload items from two or more stacked storage frames.
In mother aspect, the present invention provides two or more storage frames that may be aligned horizontally to provide incremental horizontal storage. One display track and frame may be used to display and unload items from two or more aligned and or stacked storage frames.
In still another aspect, the present invention provides a display frame including a display track for display and unloading planar items. The display frame and track may be pivoted to minimize overhead interference and for ease of display. Pivot motion of the display frame and track also permits storage tracks to be mounted at angles between 30 and 150 degrees relative to the front of the storage frame and remain accessible to the display tracks. The display frame may also include a mechanism for raising and lowering the display track. The mechanism may include a motor and or a counterbalance. The mechanism may also be computer controlled.
In still another aspect of the present invention, the storage tracks and display tracks may be tubular or rectangular to selectable load capacity and stability depending on the items to be displayed. For doors and other heavy planar items rectangular tracks may be preferred. Storage and display tracks may also include one or more safety devices to prohibit items from being withdrawn from a storage track if the display track is not present or properly aligned.
These and other features and advantages of this invention will become further apparent from the detailed description and accompanying figures that follow. In the figures and description, numerals indicate the various features of the invention, like numerals referring to like features throughout both the drawings and the description.